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Chinese regulators have warned that people are being psychologically deceived into giving away their money.
The Chinese Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has issued a fraud notice, warning consumers to be vigilant about scammers impersonating the Chinese financial regulatory authorities.
The warning specifically covers scammers using the guise of the regulator to defraud consumers with “nominal fees” for services or fake attempts to recover funds and losses.
In the notice, the CBIRC makes clear that it has “never established or authorised the establishment of so-called ‘collection channels’” or “any channels such as ‘official collection’ and ‘refund clearance’”.
According to the CBIRC, this is the fourth time that the regulator has issued a warning in 2022, with previous warnings reminding consumers to improve their awareness of ID theft, be careful of unknown charges and fake news from Chinese social media websites.
One particular area of fraud the CBIRC mentioned was “payback” and “re-charge” scams which rely on the “psychological characteristics of consumers who are eager to solve difficulties and recover losses”.
In this scenario, victims believe they are receiving a refund from a company, they appear to be refunded too much and subsequently transfer their life savings to the scammer.
As part of these measures, the CBIRC “will monitor that there are illegal websites counterfeiting financial regulatory authorities” and has asked all members of the public to report anything suspicious to the authorities.
